4 Surprising Ways Huge Disasters Ruined People's Lives

4

Henryk Siwiak's Murder Was Never Investigated Because Of 9/11

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, New York City's homicide rate plummeted to one: Henryk Siwiak. And his murder is forever destined to go unsolved because of, well ... remember that thing we started off by talking about?

Henryk was a recent immigrant from Poland. He lived with his sister in Brooklyn, worked in construction, and sent everything he earned back home to his wife so that one day they could afford to build a house. After the planes struck the towers, his job site closed down, and Henryk returned to his sister's. In order to supplement the money he'd lose due to the shutdown, he contacted an employment agency, and they hooked him up with a job cleaning a supermarket. It started that very night.

Michael Foran"Oh man ... better make sure my grocery store gets cleaned." -- someone's reaction, apparently

Unfamiliar with the subway system -- no doubt because it was designed by Hell's own puzzlemaster -- he found himself deposited three miles away from his destination. He decided to walk the rest of the way. At 11:40 p.m., local residents heard arguing, followed by gunshots. Henryk suffered a bullet to his lung, then staggered to a nearby house and rang the doorbell ... that the occupants didn't answer because of the gunshots they just heard. He collapsed in the street and died before help could reach him.

Police arrived on the scene, but there was such a severe lack of manpower and equipment that they could only spare a single detective with a Polaroid camera -- which is a perfectly fine setup for, say, attending a wedding, but not ideal for, say, solving murders. The detective was accompanied by a forensic team that specialized in burglaries and other non-fatal crimes, so they were woefully out of their depth from the start.

Oh, and they had no lights to work under, and therefore had to rely on flashlights. Honestly, it's amazing the police made it out of there alive.

In the end, they were unable to turn up a single lead in the case -- no witnesses, no evidence, and no obvious perpetrators. They're still trying, with a $12,000 reward for any information about the murder. But while time may heal all wounds, it does approximately dick for criminal apprehension.

3

Lilian Lepere Hides From Terrorists, Gets Outed On Live TV

If only because you're reading this site right now, we're sure that when your home or workplace is attacked by terrorists, you'll immediately go full John McClane and take to the vents like you were born there (... and somebody's gonna die there -- DIE HARD 8: VENT YOUR RAGE).

2

Oskar Speck Canoed Halfway Around The World To Get Arrested (Because of WWII)

You know what they say: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Tell that to Oskar Speck, who sailed from Germany to Australia, only to discover the hidden epilogue: "... and ends with you in an internment camp."

Speck was possibly a member of the Nazi party -- that part is debatable -- but he was certainly an unemployed electrician with little-to-no prospects in his hometown of Ulm. So he decided to skip out and travel to Cyprus, where he heard that they might be looking for people to work in the island's copper mines. As a man of many talents, Speck eschewed public transportation in favor of the canoe, because some people hate themselves a whole lot and don't know how to properly express it.

With his stockpile of tinned meat and chocolate, Speck set off on his voyage in May of 1932. He paddled through Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and eventually reached Cyprus several months later ... where he realized that copper mining sucked, and aimlessly buttin' around on a canoe was way better.

Australian Maritime Museum"Also, I'm stuck in this thing."

1

Vaughn Meader Was Ruined By The JFK Assassination

Back in the 1960s, Vaughn Meader started his career as a nightclub performer, but quickly found widespread fame for his impersonations of the newly elected President John F. Kennedy. On the back of his mostly good-natured jokes, he soon found himself opening nightclubs, performing across the country, and beating out icons of the era for Album of the Year at the 1963 Grammy Awards. He was even approached by Frank Sinatra to join the Rat Pack! Friggin' JFK himself loved Vaughn, and would play his album, The First Family, at cabinet meetings, going so far as to hand out copies to his friends and family. He once opened a speech at the DNC by apologizing for stealing a potential gig from Vaughn. When the leader of the free world opens statements with your name, you either did something right or something very, very wrong.